Disclaimer: Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto.
Bring Me To Life
Summary: After Sasuke left, Sakura didn't know what her purpose in life was anymore. Her presence has becoming nothing. When three years pass, Sasuke comes back to Konoha. At his return, Sakura is at a mix of emotions. "Save Me From The Nothing I've Become."
Chapter 10 – Healing
Legs sprinted as fast as they would take him. Naruto hoisted his arms up, feeling Sasuke's now unconscious body against his back slip ever so slightly. His grasp tightened, making sure the Uchiha didn't slip in fall in the middle of his mad dash towards the nearest infirmary.
Sakura gulped unconsciously, We're no where near a hospital… and we won't be getting there anytime soon at the speed we're going, especially Sasuke-kun's condition. Her mind began to grow frantic, panic forming in her emerald eyes as they flickered over to the raven-haired shinobi, his body still, lifeless.
Don't worry, we'll make it somewhere, her alter ego said encouragingly in retort.
Obsidian eyes flickered over from the blossom-haired kunoichi to the Jinchuuriki, glimpsing upon the grim expressions on their faces.
"Isn't that supposed to be my look?" inquired Sai, his expression remaining stoic along with his emotionless voice.
Both Naruto and Sakura glanced at him. "What?" they asked simultaneously.
"You two are supposed to be hopeful that the traitor will remain alive. I'm the one who's supposed to tell you he's not going to make it – not the other way around, correct?"
Cerulean eyes moved to the back of his head, peeking upon the Uchiha's face over his shoulder. His gaze lingered for a few moments before it fell upon the medic nin.
"Sakura-chan…?" he started, his voice somewhat hesitant.
Said girl snapped her head at his direction as Team Kakashi continued jumping through branches in the deep forest in blinding speeds.
"Let me look at Sasuke-kun," she told Naruto softly, yet her voice held stern.
The blond simply bobbed his head in a nod, adjusting his hold on Sasuke swiftly so he was holding him bridal-style, his raven head towards Sakura's direction so she could get a better inspection of him.
The medic nin then placed her hand on the curse mark found on juncture of his neck, concentrating the little chakra her body had left to remove the toxins out of the Uchiha prodigy.
As she did so, Sasuke began to gradually regain little consciousness, groaning from the pain and squeezed his shut eyes to diminish the throbbing stings.
At the feel of his recovering awareness, Sakura pressed more of her small amount of chakra into his groaning body. She felt her body grow weary from her lack of energy.
Sasuke, feeling the pain grow dreadfully worse, shot his hand up and grabbed Sakura's wrist tightly that was held on top of his curse seal. His grip tightened in a silent warning dangerously.
"Sasuke-kun…" the kunoichi murmured quietly. "Let go, please. I'm trying to help you. …I know you can hear me."
Onyx orbs snapped open, instantly recognizing the voice pitched to his hearing. His hand against her wrist lightened its grasp slowly before dropping completely. However, he continued to have a guarded expression, raven strands falling in front of his pale face.
Figuring Naruto was carrying him, he pushed aside the dislike of having to be carried as Sasuke tilted his head back. Ebony eyes peered upon Sakura's somewhat hopeful expression as she continued trying to heal him, her green healing chakra seeping through the palm of her hand.
Soon, pants started escaping the kunoichi's mouth softly, her stamina become lower and lower gradually. Her speed began slowing down as she poured all of her chakra into the poisoned Uchiha. Her eyelids began drooping over distinct jade eyes.
"Sakura-chan," Naruto called out upon seeing her growing fatigue. He frowned at this. "Don't overexert yourself."
Sakura wheezed, "Almost… done…" Her breathing began to grow heavy, speaking between each gulp for air. "Just… a little…"
Sai narrowed his obsidian eyes, observing her body wasn't going to hold out much longer. Proving his thoughts, her form began to collapse forward, apple green pupils drawing to a close.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto called out to her, his voice worried for his teammate. His body acted instinctively, trying to catch her but realized he could not, as Sasuke was already in his grasp.
Instead, Sai simply picked up his pace, catching Sakura in time in his arms bridal style. He then resumed his original pace, his expression blank as he peered down at the unconscious girl in his grasp.
Kakashi and Pakkun looked back, sensing a change in chakra signatures. The silver-haired jounin asked, "What's going on back there? What happened to Sakura?"
Moving his obsidian gaze up, he glanced at the legendary copy nin. "She is alright. She merely fainted from overexerting herself to heal the traitor over here."
The ex-ANBU nodded and turned to Naruto. "How's Sasuke doing?"
Naruto frowned and shrugged his shoulders, "I'm not a medic nin, how the hell should I know?" Kakashi narrowed his coal eye and the blond sighed, "I think he's starting to get pale, too pale for his own good." He grimaced at the thought of his best friend dying.
"Pakkun," Kakashi said, looking at his ninja hound, "do you smell any antibiotics around?" The furry dog looked around, his nose high in the air as he tried to get a whiff of any type of medicine.
"I don't smell anything within a three-mile radius," answered Pakkun to the ex-ANBU.
"Damn it," Naruto muttered under his breath. "Kakashi-sensei, what do we do?"
"We go the fastest our bodies will take us," answered the silver-haired jounin, pumping more chakra into his muscles as he glided through the trees, Naruto and Sai following suit.
"Kakashi-sensei," the Jinchuuriki began, uncertainty laced in his tone. "How long has it been since we left with Sasuke?"
"About twenty minutes," answered the team leader somberly. His only visible coal eye flickered over to Naruto for a brisk moment before looking back at the road ahead of him. "Why?"
Upon the reply, Naruto's tan, whiskery face paled instantly. "Be – Because, according to Sakura-chan, Sasuke had only a half hour to live… and if twenty minutes passed… then that means…!"
He didn't need to finish for the others to take heed to his words. Uchiha had only ten more minutes to presumably be alive. A melancholy silence befell.
If the traitor were to die, thought Sai, glancing down at the unconscious pink-haired kunoichi in his grasp. Sakura would not benefit from this knowledge. Her connections with the traitor are too strong.
Obsidian eyes blinked idly as the painter noticed Sakura beginning to stir within the bridal-style hold in his arms.
"I would not suggest moving," he told her, his voice monotonous. "You fainted, hag."
The medic nin halted her shifting briefly, emerald eyes rising as her head tilted upwards, peering at Sai's face.
"Where's – Where's Sasuke-kun?" she asked, her voice a hoarse whisper from having recently regained conscious. "Tell me… where he is…"
His eyelids hooded over his dark eyes, but his face remained neutral. "Dickless mentioned that Sasuke-kun would remain for only ten minutes longer—"
Sakura gasped audibly, her mouth open in a gape, causing Sai to stop his sentence as he glanced down from the forest area ahead of him to the pink-haired girl. He silently watched her vain attempt to bring healing chakra to her gloved hands, her skin paling when she felt there was no energy flowing to her fingertips, her face clearly realizing she was still too weak to do so.
"Ka – Kakashi-sensei," the Hokage's apprentice called, her voice still somewhat raspy. Emerald eyes glanced over to the silver-haired jounin. "Sasuke-kun—"
"We're going the fastest we can, Sakura," her sensei answered, his voice somewhat soothing to try and reassure her.
Sakura shook her head hastily side to side, silky pink tresses whipping across her face. "We're not going fast enough! Sasuke-kun only has ten minutes to li—"
"—I know, Naruto has already informed me."
Said boy's face brightened spontaneously, cerulean eyes flashing with a gleam of hope as his sight fell upon the entrance of Konohagakure, the gates in clear view ahead.
"Sakura-chan! Kakashi-sensei! Look!" Naruto shouted, jerking hastily with his head to look at the view directly in front of them. The people he called took notice of this, and with chakra continuing to pump through their legs they dashed inside the gates of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, ignoring the strange looks they were getting from passer-byers as they darted towards the infirmary.
((SFX: slam!))
The squad burst in the doors of the hospital, the hinges of the door scraping harshly against the ground as it flew open, effecitively slamming against the walls.
"Get an emergency room – now!" Sakura called out with authority laced within her tone. She forced her body to move out of Sai's grip, ignoring his objections to her actions claiming she was still "too weak to move." She bit her lip out of reflex as jade eyes watched a few medic nin scurry over to her from her outburst, taking the once-again unconscious Uchiha out of Naruto's grasp before placing his body carefully on a stretcher, leading him to another room.
Damn it… the kyuubi vessel thought, pacing around nervously and anxiously when he saw medic nins take his best friend away. Sasuke, you better not die… don't you even dare think of dying on me!
"Sakura-san, what happened to him?" one nurse asked as her, along with another few assistants, laid Sasuke's poisoned body on a hospital bed, immediately connecting pulse reactors to his pressure points.
"There's no time for that, where's Tsunade-shishou?" the pink-haired kunoichi immediately snapped back, moving her head from side to side rapidly as blossom pink hair flew around her face.
A few moments later, her mentor appeared, as a result of Sakura's desperate summons of her.
"Sakura, what is the emergency?" Tsunade questioned her student, having taken a few steps inside. Her beautiful young face remained professionally calm as her gold eyes scanned around the area, looking for the source of her pupil's obvious distress.
Her eyes, within seconds, found what her watch was looking for, flying on the Uchiha Prodigy. His body lay down on the white sheets of the bed, his mouth opened as he heavily took mouthfuls of air, eyes remaining squeezed shut as a pained sweat adorned his features.
"Sasuke-kun, he had been poisoned, and I used the rest of my chakra healing him," she answered her mentor. "I – I did the best I could, and I managed to keep him alive for another half an hour, to get here so you could finish the job. But now… he can probably only last for another… six… minutes…" Her voice had begun to trail off in an almost inaudible whisper, comprehension of grasping the concept of the Uchiha actually dying growing in her widening apple green eyes.
Tsunade made her way past the mass number of nurses crowding the small yet large hospital O.R. room. "I understand," she replied briskly. "Where was the poison injected, Sakura?"
This must have been one hell of a poison if even Sakura couldn't take care of it, thought the blonde sannin, her golden almond eyes following Sakura's hand that motioned towards the curse seal pulsing against Sasuke's neck. She watched her apprentice place a tender hand on the side of the raven-haired male's face, stroking down his chiseled cheekbone coated with a thin film of sweat soothingly.
"Who was the one who injected him?" Tsunade asked, taking a few more steps forward so she stood at the bedside of the panting Uchiha.
There's so much already in his blood stream, the Godaime woman thought grimly, pursing her lips, as she examined the boy's weak features.
"We found him like this during his fight with Kabuto," answered Sakura in a whistful whisper. She could feel the burning sting of tears welling in the corner of her large sea green eyes. She blinked in a vain attempt to dissipate the salty liquid against her eyes. Her fingertips continued to softy caress the shinobi's face.
Sasuke-kun looks like he's on the bridge of death… unless… he's already—
"He's still alive, but barely," she heard Tsunade confirm, placing both her hands with one on top of the other above Sasuke's curse mark. She concentrated glowing viridian healing chakra inside. "He's an Uchiha, it is typical that he would not die easily, safely assuming anyone else in his position would have long died by now." She missed Sakura's visible flinch to her words as she continued. "It's not a surprise that he's still forcing his body to remain conscious." Her almond gold eyes flickered over to Sakura. "I will do everything in my power to save him."
Her apprentice nodded meekly in reply.
"Now, I need wires connecting to the rest of his vital signs, stat! We need to monitor his heartbeat, I am not wasting my chakra for a lost cause!" The Godaime's order was immediately answered as nurses scrambled to do what she had commanded, slapping on the wires keeping the tempo of his heartbeat, brain waves, etc.
((SFX: beep… beep… beep…))
The small screen placed beside the Uchiha's bedside pulsed with each painstakingly slow pace of his heartbeat, his heart activity dreadfully dilatory.
Sakura choked down her feeble sobs, the back of her hands wiping her stinging eyes furiously. Gold eyes flickered sharply over to the pink-haired kunoichi before embedding more healing chakra into the dying body of Sasuke's, the palms of her hands pressing even firmer against the pale skin of the boy.
"Don't give up so easily, Sakura!" she spoke in a firm tone. "If you do, there's no point in me continuing. I'm only doing this for you, if this had been some other patient, I would have come to face the facts of the result by now, considering the amount of poison in his bloodstream. I am not wasting my chakra, do you hear me?" When she heard no reply, Tsunade pressed on. "Do you hear me, Sakura?"
The said girl looked at her mentor melancholy before briskly averting her gaze. Emerald eyes flashed towards the scanner which kept track of Sasuke's heart, the image of the heart rate reflecting against her large eyes. With every thirty second pause, his heart would beat, but even still, Sakura noticed it was slowing down gradually yet tremendously.
((SFX: Drip… drip… drip…))
Fresh, salty tears flowed freely from moistened jade eyes, not bothering to wipe the beads of moisture from her face as they fell idly to the floor.
His heart's… stopping… she concluded gloomily.
Damn it, his body won't be able to take much longer, Tsunade thought, pursing her lips when she realized his heartbeat had audibly slowed strangely at the sound of Sakura's choked sobs. Is he losing his push to live? she wondered.
Skeptic golden eyes narrowed. "Sakura, I need you to press your palms on his chest where his heart is and continue doing the action repeatedly." Upon no movement form the girl, she repeated, "Do it, Sakura. Do it if you want to save his life." Still, no movement, not even a flinch. She moved her head towards her student, frowning at her. "I said, do you hear me—?"
Sakura tilted her head down, pastel pink bangs fringing over large sea green eyes, creating a pink curtain around her face, concealing her face behind the silky tresses.
"There's… no point…"
The Godaime's eyes flashed at this, squinting when heard the sound made when Sasuke's heart beat coming every fifty seconds from the monitors.
"It's too late…" the kunoichi continued in a broken whisper, quiet sobs escaping her throat.
((SFX: beep… beep—beeeeeeeeepppp))
At the flat tone, Tsunade's gaze flickered over to the monitor. His heart rate wasn't pulsing with each beat, the line had gone completely flat – lifeless. His heart had completely stopped. At this, the blonde sannin sighed quietly, slowly removing her hands off of the Uchiha's curse mark. She shook her head slowly.
"He's…" she started in a murmur, casting her golden almond orbs on the floor somberly. "He's dead."